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1950s movies marathon – part 66

Richard III (1955, UK, Olivier)

Evil is such a generic word. It is its more specific forms that appall me, such as the bitter, lonely failure who has only one spark of brilliance in him: The ability to destroy good people, in order to prove to history that he was there, that he really lived. Watched it all.

Simba (1955, UK)

The Empire never played a big role in British movies, it’s almost as if it isn’t there, and when it is, the movies are rarely any good, (except for The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp). In this one, British colonists in Kenya face the Mau-Mau rebellion. The more liberal-minded of them believe that if only they treated the black Africans more kindly, the rebellion would lose its support, and the movie seems to take their side. But an old hard-line character is closer to the truth: The real choice they face, he says, is between showing who’s boss – or getting out of Africa. Liberal colonialism is a contradiction. Watched: 18 minutes.

It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955, USA)

Ladies and gentlemen, watch American-Japanese cultural exchange in action: First Ray Harruhausen creates the original giant angry dinosaur for The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, then the Japanese reinvents it as Godzilla, and now here the Americans reimport and improve on the Godzilla formula. Voluntary cultural imperialism is such a beautiful thing to behold. Watched it all.